Women workers should not be labelled as 'human capital' in this era of globalisation because they are not 'commodity', said Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez at a regional conference today.

Speaking at the Committee for Asian Women (CAW) Regional Conference with 'Impact of Globalisation: Uniting Women Workers of Asia in Action' as the theme, she said women are the main victims of globalisation.

"Women migrant workers are filling the gap of globalisation. There is a need for a paradigm shift where women workers are seen as people, not merely human capital."

"This term 'human capital' used by the World Bank and also in the Ninth Malaysian Plan is incorrect. We are not commodity," Irene asserted.

She pointed out that Malaysia's seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council should set the momentum in the country to recognise the rights of women, workers and migrants.

CAW chairperson Jurgette Honculada said that neo-liberal globalisation has led to many changes in economic production.

"The last 20 years resulted in the growth of labour intensive industrialisation [...] the impact for this is the feminisation of labour where predominantly women are employed at lower income levels."

"The bias is most evident when women are retrenched first [...] women also work as home-based workers, street vendors, domestic workers, waste recyclers, migrant workers and sex workers," she said during the press conference held in Kuala Lumpur.

Injustice is clear

Jurgette also emphasised that women in these roles constitute a large part of the working poor where discrimination and abuse are far greater in this sector of society, compared to any other.

It was noted that bilateral free trade agreements are designed to maximise profits and workers rights are not considered.

"The injustice against women is very clear and we must consolidate what we have to continue in this struggle," she said.

CAW is a network of 39 women workers groups from 14 Asian countries that aims to promote women workers' human and labour rights.

They are calling for Asian governments to:

stop selling away women's labour rights by engaging with free trade agreements that cause serious impacts on people's livelihood
stop deregulating labour legislation which lead to further loss of protection for workers
recognise informal economy workers as workers and regulate labour laws to ensure their rights are fully protected
respect the principle of people's democracy and human rights that ensure workers rights are not being eroded, such as the freedom of association and assembly
respect the rights of migrant workers and ensure their rights to freedom of association and assembly are not curtailed
ensure peace and safety for all citizens and non-citizens, especially the workers in the country
not engage in discriminatory practices against certain sections of society, especially women, the poor and minorities